This malty, full-bodied double alt is also known as “Stickebier” – German slang for “secret brew”. Long Trail Double Bag was originally offered only in our brewery taproom as a special treat to our visitors. With an alcohol content of 7.2%, please indulge in moderation. The Long Trail Brewing Company is proud to have Double Bag named Malt Advocate’s “Beer of the Year” in 2001. Malt Advocate is a national magazine devoted to “expanding the boundaries of fine drinks”. Their panel of judges likes to keep things simple, and therefore of thousands of eligible competitors they award only two categories: “Imported” and “Domestic”. It is a great honor to receive this recognition.

Reviews by harveystarr:

More User Reviews:

A: Pours a clear copper to amber in color with some light amounts of visible carbonation. The beer has a quarter finger tall light beige head that reduces to a large patch of extremely thin film and a thick ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate lacing is observed.

S: Moderate aromas of biscuit and caramel malts, slightly sweet. Additionally there are light to moderate aromas of floral hops.

T: The beer taste quite malty with some biscuit malt flavors as well as some caramel malt sweetness. There is a light amount of bitterness mid-taste.

M: Medium bodied with light to moderate amounts of carbonation. Very light dryness in the finish.

O: This is a very enjoyable beer that hides the alcohol very well. A pretty good example for the style, though I'm probably a little more harsh in reviewing it than others after having spent a couple of weeks in Dusseldorf drinking altbiers.

I remember drinking this a few times while living in VT back in 2000-01 first time drinking since,poured a clear lighter bronze color with a thinner white head that settled into a soapy-like top with a decent amount of lace behind.Fruity esters in the nose along with some brown sugar and well some bubble gum wich was a little odd I wouldnt have expected to come across that.Pretty fruity up front dare I say gummy wormish?Fruity flavors and brown sugar sweetness meld into a nice dryer spicey finish with an herbal tinge true to alt beer style.Does not feel like 7.2% alc thats for sure goes down quite easily,I am revisiting the Long Trail beers they are readily available here in in western NY this is a very nice offering.

Taste  The big, toasty malts are wonderful at the taste. Theres that musty sense that you often get with the style as well. The super big caramel sweetness came in with a bit of butter and pleasantly rounded things out.

Mouthfeel  This one is almost medium in the body. I enjoyed the malty body to this one but the deep, rich, sweet finish is what sets this apart from the pack.

Drinkability  This is an excellent effort at a little known style here in the US that is brewed out of CT. Somebody thoughtfully did their homework on this recipe. Well done, Long Trail.

Interestingly this is described on the label as a "double alt". Never heard that term before, so I've learned something new! Anyway you catagorize it, this is an excllent brew. Deep copper color, great looking head. Rich malty aroma. Flavor and body are rich with a hint of chocolate. A pleasant alcohol warming sensation follows each swallow. Hops balance things out nicely. Good drinkability for such a strong, rich beer.

Taste is much more malty than the aroma lets on, especially in the finish. The similarities to the standard Long Trail Ale show through now. Sweetness is thankfully subdued, but is still there in the form of some dark crystal and plays nicely with the hints of alcohol. Some floral and spicy hopping work in too.

A solid medium bodied beer, helped by the residual sweetness. Nicely carbonated to a fairly low level, just enough to cut the sweet edge, remains smooth.

Overall a tasty beer. Easy to drink given its size. Its a nice interpretation to this catch all style that is usually overly hopped.

A dark beer, amber in color, with a medium head and some slight lacing. Not much in the aroma department, mostly sweet. A caramel/toffee taste, with a little hops. Pretty good taste, actually, just not enough of it. I liked this beer, and have had several in one sitting, but I keep thinking it could be better.

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12oz. bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance: It had a deep copper color with visible carbonation and nice clarity. The head was thin, light tan in color and faded fast leaving spotty bubbles on top of the liquid. A small amount of lace was left on the glass.

Smell: The aroma had a sweet malty character with caramel notes and mild hops.

Taste/Mouth feel: On the tongue there is a thick sweet malt presence with sweet biscuit and caramel notes. The sweetness is balanced nicely by a strong herbal and leafy hops that seems to take over by the finish. The finish is slow and the flavor seems to stick on the tongue. It has a medium body with a creamy smooth texture and carbonation is active yet very mild.

Taste is pretty swet as well but not cloying or anything. Tastes of ripe fruit, cherries, candied malts, vanilla, honey, bready, ending with a light hop spice. Perhaps some additional hops could benefit this brew but it is still very good and very smooth for a 7.2% abv tag.

Mouthfeel is very smooth, good carbonation, semi-dry finish, medium bodied. All in all, a great Altbier. I'm usually not a huge fan of this style but it is going well with the cold air and snow all over the ground. This beer exceeded my expectations by a long shot. Good job at hiding the alcohol volume as well. Very sessionable.

Smell: Rich sweet caramel and toffee with an almost butterscotch aroma meet up with the scent of heady ester alcohol.

Taste: Rich chewy malt, a little toasted, a hint of diacetyl, a touch of caramel and a good dose of sweetness which is cut by an ample semi tangy hop bitterness, a fuming estery alcohol and a toasted grainy flavour. The toasted grain/malt and a vanishing hop leaf flavour linger for a bit while the alcohol warms the body a bit.

Notes: A very intense and interesting brew, well balanced and finishes quite clean for a brew that boasts 7.2% abv. This brew is called a Sticke (secret) Alt Style Ale, an obscure sub-style of the Alts that is only brewed as a specialty ( once in a blue moon ) in Germany, Long Trail has done it justice for an American brewed version.

What a cute label, with two cows' udders prominent in what is billed as a "double alt". Poured into a pint glass, this has a clear, copper amber body, with a small, offwhite head. Patch lace is abundant down the side of the glass.

Interesting aroma is very malty, with toffee and caramel up front. Hops profile is difficult to pinpoint, but seems to waver between floral and noble.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, and carbonation is moderate.

Taste has a Munich maltiness, with plenty of molasses flavor. Plenty of hops are present to lend a balancing bitterness. Hops waver between floral, herbal, and pear/fruity. Alcohol is very well disguised by the nice complexity of this Vermont alt.

This was the first Vermont brew that I ever enjoyed in the Green Mountain State. An excellent way to start, with this very well crafted ale. Highly recommended!

12 ounce bottle with 'bottled on " dating. pours almond, clear, with sticky well developed lacing. Nose is of some alcohol, malt and nuts. Malt is the deal here. Lots of rich, smooth, sweet and tasty malt. Nuttyness evident. Deeply flavorful. Warming at 7.2%. This is a fine sipper from the skillfull folks at LT. Widely available about New England. Very worthy ALT beer.

poured into a pint glass, lighter shade of amber with a small white head that quickly dissapeared and hung around rim. smell brought a thick malt followed by the hops, another attempt gave hints of caramel and alcohol. smooth, grainy with a strong presence of hops- finishing with a bitter taste. a bit complex and very well balanced beer. well carbonated but a bit overwhelming, the drinkability is poorer than the triple bag in my opinion.

Mouthfeel: medium-light carbonation, medium body, very sweet with slight bitterness at the end

Overall: This is so readily available around here, I keep on forgetting how good a quality this beer is. This is a nice and sweet malty treat. It is sweet without ever being cloying. I do like this one on the colder side though.

Pours a clear amber with very little head. The aroma is somewhat sweet with some alcohol. Syrupy and malty taste. The alcohol is very evident. Nice tasting beer. The mouthfeel is smooth and slick. Quite drinkable for being 7.2% ABV. Overall, I enjoyed this beer. It goes down easy and the ABV is in the range that I like.